Winners of the 2025 Art Music Awards Announced
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) have announced the Distinguished Services to Australian Music and State and Territory Luminary Award Winners for the 2025 Art Music Awards. The awards ceremony will be held on 21 August at Sydney’s City Recital Hall.
Art music visionaries, Jon Rose and Hollis Taylor, will be honoured with the prestigious Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the 2025 Art Music Awards on Thursday 21 August.
Famous for their cutting-edge work and sonic exploration, Rose and Taylor have frequently collaborated on innovative projects including Great Fences of Australia, which maps the acoustic qualities of 35,000 kilometres of fence lines across the Australian outback.
A pioneering violinist, composer and multimedia artist, Jon Rose is celebrated for his work on, about and with the violin, further extended with his own designed experimental instruments. As a leading figure in Australia’s free improvisation movement, he has performed in concert halls worldwide and featured on over 90 albums. His cultural criticism can be found published in five books and he received the Don Banks Music Award in 2012 for his lifetime contribution to Australian music.
Hollis Taylor began her musical journey as a classical violinist in the United States before becoming a fiddle champion. She has performed and appeared in films such as My Own Private Idaho and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Her passion for Australian birds and their songs led her to record and celebrate their music across multiple albums and books. Taylor has held residencies at some of the world’s most esteemed research institutions (including in Paris and Berlin) and was appointed an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in 2019.
The recipients of the 2025 State and Territory Luminary Awards have also been announced, highlighting the extraordinary talent flourishing across Australia. From bold new compositions to transformative community initiatives, this year’s winners reflect a vibrant and courageous creative spirit.
They are: Territory Luminary Award: ACT Luminescence Chamber Singers for their annual program in ACT and beyond.
State Luminary Award: NSW Jack Symonds for outstanding contributions to contemporary Australian opera.
State Luminary Award: SA Adelaide Chamber Singers for sustained contribution to commissioning and artistic excellence.
State Luminary Award: VIC Nat Bartsch for advocacy for neurodiversity in music.
State Luminary Award: TAS Stevie McEntee for programming Clarence Jazz Festival and as artistic director/founding member of Lutruwita Art Orchestra.
State Luminary Award: QLD Muses Trio for Muses Inc.
State Luminary Award: WA Perth International Jazz Festival for growth of the Perth International Jazz Festival 2020 – 2024.
The remaining 11 Art Music Awards will be revealed during the ceremony, with guests being treated to performances by an eclectic lineup of artists, including four-piece supergroup Asteroid Ekosystem; drummer and electronic musician Laurence Pike with VOX Sydney Philharmonia Choir; percussionist Claire Edwardes in collaboration with turntablist Martin Ng; the premiere of Indigenous experimental sound ensemble grndwater featuring amby downs, JWPaton, sallvage and Sonya Holowell; and pianist Alex Raineri. The program has been curated by acclaimed artist, Sia Ahmad.
Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC) the Art Music Awards is an annual celebration of the national art music community, recognising excellence among creators, performers and community leaders in contemporary classical, jazz, experimental music and sound art.
More at: apraamcos.com.au/2025artmusicawards.
2025 ART MUSIC AWARDS
Thursday 21 August @ 5.30pm
City Recital Hall, 2 Angel Place, Sydney
Hosted by Vanessa Hughes, with guest presenters Nardi Simpson and Hamed Sadeghi, with music curation by Sia Ahmad
Image: John Rose and Hollis Taylor, winners of the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music
